GNOME Bugzilla – Bug 650454
optionally always ask where to save downloaded files
Last modified: 2018-08-03 19:30:45 UTC
I'm using Epiphany 3.0.3 on Fedora 15. Every time I download a file, I'd like Epiphany to ask me where to save it. (The default answer for this question can be wherever I last chose to save.) Firefox has an option to enable this behavior, and it's very convenient since I like to store source archives in ~/src, music in ~/Music and so on. In theory, I could get this behavior by right clicking every download link and choose Save As... There are two problems with that. First, it's inconvenient. Second, numerous Web pages initiate a download in response to pressing a button, and in that case I have no chance to choose Save As.
There's been a *lot* of discussion about this in the past. I can't find a relevant bug report right now but the gist of it is that Epiphany on purpose doesn't pop up a save-as-dialog for regular download, because it interrupts a workflow when in the large majority of cases, ~/Downloads (or whatever your preferred download folder is) is the desired target location. You can always organize your downloads later. The second problem you mention is a bit strange. I have heard of web sites overriding the context menu (which Epiphany used to prevent but now doesn't any more because of all the Google Docs and friends (ab)using this possibility), but not of initiating a download as rightclick-reaction. I think Epiphany should be able to block this behavior.
For a user who often saves downloads in different folders (like me), a Save As dialog would be a very minor inconvenience as long as it remembered the last saved location: it would usually show the correct location in which case I could simply press OK to proceed with the download. Today, since Epiphany always saves to a single location, then when I actually want to save to a different directory I have to start Nautilus, find my Downloads folder, cut the file, navigate to the folder where I want it to be and paste it there. That's a major interruption to my workflow. Unfortunately I can't think of any examples at the moment of Web sites which initiate a download in response to my pressing a button, though I've seen plenty in the past. The next time I stumble across one I'll add it to this bug.
I can think of one good example, Moodle. It uses javascript to initiate downloads. As a student I like to save the relevant documents and resources in specific folders under each subject. "Business Information Systems Development Process.pdf" should go in Document/Studies/MIS/Week7/Module3/... I hate having to open Nautilus just to move a file to the appropriate directory and then having to repeat the process everytime I wish to download a file. THIS interrupts the workflow tremendously. The time taken adds up, even more so with split view gone. Being able to choose the save location for every download would be of great value to Epiphany.
Also downloads from sourceforge, ubuntuone and many other hosting providers are unmanageable with the contextual menu. The use of javascript or APIs instead of direct links is really very common.
I'm all for this feature. "Epiphany on purpose doesn't pop up a save-as-dialog for regular download, because it interrupts a workflow when in the large majority of cases, ~/Downloads (or whatever your preferred download folder is) is the desired target location." That's an argument for why it should be the DEFAULT. It's a crappy reason for not implementing what is frankly an essential feature for a web browser. This is why so many users don't care for GNOME is the mentality that "oh, we don't like it that way, so lets take it out completely" which makes no sense from a design standpoint at all. Not every user is like the GNOME developers, they need to get off that idea.
(In reply to comment #2) > Today, since Epiphany > always saves to a single location, then when I actually want to save to a > different directory I have to start Nautilus, find my Downloads folder, cut the > file, navigate to the folder where I want it to be and paste it there. That's > a major interruption to my workflow. ^ This has been my experience as well.
Yes, I changed my download folder to /tmp to avoid ending up with a lot of temporary files I don't want in my Downloads folder. Actually I've never used a downloads folder, I used to decide where to save every file, because I don't think all files are the same just because you have downloaded them.
*** Bug 742154 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
I can see such a dialog being useful in a number of scenarios, for example in web app mode but also in javascript-initiated downloads that might not even be desired. As long as we keep in mind that Web is supposed to be just a good browser and not a file transfer manager of sorts. Maybe a preference is not even needed, we could show a dialog by default and bind Shift-click download to the current behavior (just a suggestion, don't know how feasible it is).
*** Bug 655175 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
From bug #655175, let's make sure such a dialog has a cancel button, to ensure no file gets saved.
-- GitLab Migration Automatic Message -- This bug has been migrated to GNOME's GitLab instance and has been closed from further activity. You can subscribe and participate further through the new bug through this link to our GitLab instance: https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/epiphany/issues/147.